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Beijing (2019 film)
(most countries) (France, Switzerland and Wallonia) |rating(s)= R9 (Kuboia) PG (United Kingdom) PG-13 (United States) |release_date= 4th October, 2019 |running_time= 125 minutes |country= Kuboia |language= English |budget= €45 million |box_office= €315 million }} Beijing is a Kuboian traditionally animated Kantasy film directed by Casey James, produced by Lake Caters and written by Ashley Maverick and Marty Rockfield. It is the second cinematic film based on the 1997 Kantasy television series Magma Eye, after the 2014 film Rocket Reloaded. Produced by GeneBox Animation and distributed by , Beijing focuses mostly on the titular character, who flees from her home after feeling unwelcome by her family and friends. The film was released in Kuboian cinemas on 4th October, 2019. Beijing is the first film in Kuboia to be rated with the 9 certificate after its reintroduction in September 2019. The film was originally rated with the 11 certificate, but the Leisure Rating Association reintroduced the 9 certificate after complaints that the film's original classification was too high. Beijing was a commercial success, grossing €315 million on a €45 million budget, making it the second highest-grossing Kuboian film all the highest-grossing Kuboian animated film of all time. Despite this, the film received mixed reviews from critics, who criticised it for being difficult to follow due to having too many sub-plots. Plot Taking place a year after the events of Rocket Reloaded, Beijing is now fourteen years old, and just away to leave school with no qualifications at all due to falling behind badly in school. Worrying about her future, Beijing begins pestering Magma Eye for advice, angering the creature, who insists that he cannot help her with everything, and that he has other people to assist too. However, after secretly talking to Rocket, a robot who Beijing met via Magma, in a phone booth, he informs Beijing that Magma will "get over it" within 24 hours. The following day, Beijing walks to school with her friends Lorianne and Tyo, who are unaware of the previous day's events and the fact that Beijing is failing in school. The trio walk to school so they can sit a Communications exam, but miss the exam due to Beijing getting distracted on their way there - all three get marked down with a 0% result, but don't hear a conversation between the examiners to give them a resit. Lorianne and Tyo both blame Beijing, and storm out of the room after an argument. Once Beijing gets home, her father, Feng, grounds her and sends her to her room after realising that she is failing school, and has been lying about studying. After having a few minutes of sitting on her bed feeling that her life is going nowhere, Beijing quietly packs her rucksack, climbs out her room's window, and runs away. When Beijing's brother, Xiam, realises that she is missing, he and Feng contact everybody they may believe Beijing may be with, including Lorianne, Tyo, Magma and his group of friends (Munch, Ramp and Rocket), and even Beijing's mother, Lijiang. After realising that she is not with any of them, Feng reluctantly agrees to work with Magma and his friends in order to find Beijing. Cast * Charlie Karma - Beijing * Den Fortwhile - Tyo, Nitasha * Ashley Maverick - Lorianne, Webbie, Katrina, Taiyuan * Harlow Maynard - Magma Eye Production In 2008, Ashley Maverick showed interest in making a film series based on the show, with three of the show's characters, Beijing, Munch and Rocket, each getting their own film. She had previously wanted to make one singular film based on the whole Magma Eye cast, but thought the plot would be too confusing and hard to follow with too many characters, so chose to give some characters their own films. During production, Ashley Maverick feared competition of many other animated Kuboian films that were releasing round about the same time, including Kasouliene: The Movie, Pantorama, Lottie's Room and the untitled sequel to Cindi and Friends: The Best Forever - ironically, the last of these featured a protagonist voiced by Charlie Karma, who also voices the titular character in Beijing. However, her fears wore off slightly when the untitled sequel was delayed. Animation for the film began in January 2015 and was completed in November 2018. Like its predecessor, Rocket Reloaded, Beijing was produced with traditional animation, running at twelve frames per second, occasionally switching to twenty-four frames per second. Ashley Maverick used drafts of the characters she produced in the mid 1990s in order to make the characters look accurate to their original depictions. Ashley also mentioned that she didn't want the film to be "a mindless nostalgia-fest", but instead wanted to make something that would "continue the story of a timeless classic". She also stated that the film may be unfairly reviewed by critics due to being based on a Kantasy series. Casting On 16th October, 2015, Den Fortwhile mentioned how he was considering turning down his role as Nitasha and Tyo, as he was finding it difficult to voice them due to his voice becoming deeper since the mid nineties. However, he later decided to reprise his role as both of them, stating that he would likely regret not doing so. On 8th August, 2019, it was confirmed online that all voice actors and actresses from both the Magma Eye television series and Rocket Reloaded would reprise their respective character roles. Release Ashley Maverick originally wanted the film to be released sometime in 2017, but delayed its release for over two years in order to allow more time for animation and post-production. Beijing was released in Kuboian cinemas on 4th October, 2019. Many of the film's voice actors and directors made appearances at TBA to sign autographs before the film premiered at midnight. The film had a preview release at several Cineworld cinemas in the United Kingdom at midnight on 4th October before the film officially released in the country on the 11th that month. Marketing Very little information regarding Beijing was revealed until a few months before its official release. A teaser trailer for the film was released on 18th December, 2018. The official trailer for the film was released on 24th August, 2019 - it was at the top of the YouTube trending page for over 24 hours. The voice of Beijing, Charlie Karma, posted a minute-long preview of the film on her YouTube channel on 13th September. Music : Main article: Beijing (soundtrack) Controversy Age ratings Like Rocket Reloaded, Beijing initially received an 11 rating in Kuboia, a 12 rating in the United Kingdom and a PG-13 rating in the United States. Fans of the show took to many social media websites such as Reddit to discuss whether the higher age ratings were a good idea. People where mixed regarding this - some argued that those who watched Magma Eye back in the late nineties and noughties are now a lot older, and that the increased age rating won't affect them. However, GeneBox co-founder Harlow Maynard admitted annoyance at the increased age ratings saying "We're interested in pleasing everybody with these films, not just those who watched the show back in the day!" Some writers also argued that the increase in age ratings hurts this film more than Rocket Reloaded, since Beijing and her schoolmates are children, and young children could use the film as a guidance to later life, and are more likely to relate to Beijing's character. On 11th August, 2019, the BBFC revealed that the age rating in the United Kingdom had been lowered to a PG. Later on 21st August, the LRA announced plans that the 11 rating may be discontinued in favour of reintroducing a 9 rating, which was originally discontinued in 2011 - if this becomes the case, Beijing will be rated under the new classification. On 23rd September, both the 9 and R9 were officially reinstated, thus Beijing was rerated to match up with the new classification. After the film was released, several parents in the United Kingdom complained that the film should have been rated higher, contradicting their reaction to the film's original classification. Closure of school On 13th September, 2019, the head teacher of Sandylane Approach-Novice School announced that the school would be closing for the day on 4th October, the same day Beijing was released in cinemas. This was decided after many children mentioned that they would likely not be attending school that day due to going to see the film at midnight. This decision was met with criticism, with some parents complaining that the school would be shut when it shouldn't be. Reception Box office Beijing made €30 million on its first day, and €50 million on its first weekend, in Kuboian cinemas alone. The film also made $80 million (approximately €72 million) in the United States on its first weekend there, and made £20 million (approximately €22 million) from previews in the UK alone. Critical reception Pre-release As more information about the film began to be revealed in the beginning of 2019, many writers feared that it would rely too much on nostalgia, a trend that had began recurring in Kuboian media in the late 2010s. When the film's soundtrack was revealed, some critics felt that some of the songs were unfitting. Other criticism came from TBA, who, after watching several clips of the film, showed concern that Beijing may promote and/or trivialise depression in young children. Post-release Beijing was met with mixed to positive reviews; it mostly received critical acclaim from the Kantasy fandom, whilst reviews from other sources were more critical. The film currently has a 48% rating approval on Rotten Tomatoes based on 77 reviews, with an average score of 6.8 out of 10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100 based on 61 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews." The film has received praise for filling plot holes that Magma Eye left, as well as concluding Beijing's story arcs (and to extent, most of the other characters' story arcs). However, many reviews criticised the plot for having too many characters and being too hard to follow. Category:Films Category:Fictional films Category:Animated films Category:2019 Category:2019 films Category:2010s films Category:2010s Category:Magma Eye Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Fictional Universal films Category:Kuboian films Category:2019 animated films Category:Kantasy